Yesterday on my way to pick someone up from the DFW airport, I was hit by a SUV that ignored their red light (we're talking a red light that was red for more than 1 minute). Pictures are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/2531817...7609388246116/

Anyone have any experience with new cars and accidents and having them written off?

The car is a 2009 TCH with 2300 miles on it.

Thanks!

Marc

 

That hurts, to have someone else ruin your car like that.

From the pictures, if there isn't substantial frame damage it does not look like there is enough damage to write off your TCH.

IIRC, the magic number I read was 75% of replacement cost is the writeoff threshold .

 

Bummer man. I am glad you are ok (right?). I really hate stupid people who run red lights. They do it so often around here we usually wait 30 seconds after the light turns green to reduce your chance of death.

 

It mostly depends on your insurance company, in my opinion. They all use their formulas of course, but they also have discretion. I had a 1.5 year old Acura TL Type-S that was totaled by Amica because of frame damage and a crack in the engine block. My pictures look similar to yours, but perhaps a little worse. My experience is USAA and Amica are more willing to total something, than what I consider to be lesser brands, like State Farm, Allstate, etc.
If they end up fixing it, BE SURE you collect from the other guy for 'diminished value,' which is essentially the reduction in value of your Camry as a result of the wreck. My Camry Hybrid got rear-ended in January, when it was 6 months old. Repair bill was $6,000 and I made Farmer's (who knew they had car insurance?) pay another $2,500 in diminished value. I live in Dallas, so I can give you the name of the guy that did the diminished value assessment report. He's over in Addison. It was $350.00 well spent.
I hope they total it for you.

 

Oh no!

I don't know what the insurance co will say.

My TCH was rammed into on the side by a hit and run driver and it was fixed...it was not as bad as yours though.....it still drove after the smash and was more door oriented (had to get new doors).

Best of luck with your car!

 

I'm gonna guess it is still fixable, as long as there isn't major damage to what's under the hood (inverter, engine, transmission or frame).

 

The body looks fixable. It just needs a new "front end". That's a fairly standard level of repair. The decision probably rests with how many of the expensive internal components are broken. The airbags, engine, and computers in a normal car add up to a lot of money. These cars also have the inverter, electric motors, and several additional computers. You can't see those things in a photo.

 

I am pretty sure the Toyota Camry does not have a "frame" as most cars these days are unibody and not body-on-frame. That being said, the car does not look that bad and my bet is that they will fix it.

Early this year my wife had an accident with her 2005 Lexus. The resulting damage was similar in appearance to your car. The insurance company decided to repair the car, and the ultimate cost of the repairs was greater than the value of the car (over $30,000). The reason the insurance company repaired it is because the Lexus approved body shop knew exactly what sort of estimate to give so that the repairs would be approved, and then they "found additional damage" in the process of repairing the vehicle.

It would probably have been better for us and the insurance company to have declared the car a total loss, but it was better for the body shop to do the repairs, and the insurance company's inspector was probably asleep.

The Lexus is perfectly fine now, and the repairs remarkably restored the car to its original condition, although it is nearly impossible to sell a car that has been in a car accident. We would probably have replaced the Lexus with a Toyota hybrid for now if not for the accident because now we would lose a fortune trying to unload the car after the accident. Our only option is to drive it until most of its value is gone anyway and then the loss of value wouldn't be too great. Perhaps we will trade it in when the plug-in hybrids are ready for prime time some time in 2012.

 

If it's getting repaired, check your insurance policy on replacement parts for a newer vehicle. When my then-new Grand Caravan got nailed by someone after we only had it for 6 months, I sent it to a shop where a friend of mine worked. The shop manager was going to try to save money for the insurance company (since the shop had just signed on as a "preferred" location) and use non-OEM parts. Fortunately my friend was looking out for me and pointed out to the shop guy that my insurance policy (AmFam)specifically calls for OEM new parts when the vehicle was under 1 year or 12,000 miles.

 

I bet they write it off.